Officials trying to trace teen's last days

Oct. 14, 2012

Khighla Parks

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Hilary Adams lies on her daughter's horse as she is comforted by Janis McCall, of One Missing Link, and her mother Bonnie Adams on Tuesday. / Nathan Papes/News-Leader

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A drive across the mile-long bridge over the Osage River arm of Truman Lake reveals what remains of what was Highway 7 before the area was flooded. Boaters flock to the area for plentiful white bass and crappie.

Investigators believe that Anthony Balbirnie, 47, a repeat drug offender who had failed at numerous chances to turn his life around, stopped on this bridge. In the trunk of the gold Pontiac, court documents say, was the body of Willard teen Khighla Parks. Her weighted-down body would lie in the lake for days until she was found by boaters.

The middle-aged man and the homeschooled 15-year-old were Facebook friends. He is now facing a felony charge of abandonment of a corpse. Her grief-stricken relatives say they didn’t know about Balbirnie until after Khighla’s death. Authorities say Khighla’s death was a homicide, but no one has been accused of killing her. Investigators have been trying to trace Khighla’s last days and what brought the two together.

“Khi was so strong, so trusting and so obedient,” said Khighla’s mother, Hilary Adams.

Close family

The 20 acres that Mike and Bonnie Adams live on is south of Willard, not far from what was once a popular swimming hole. The couple had two children, Hilary and Aaron, and adopted eight more. Mike Adams works at Assemblies of God. The couple was also foster parents for dozens of children. Horses play a big part in the family’s life.

“We’re a close family,” said Aaron Adams.

Hilary Adams’ first child, Khighla, was born in a mobile home behind the house of Mike and Bonnie Adams. Hilary was 17. Khighla was largely raised by her maternal grandparents. They are also raising Khighla’s four younger siblings. Her father and stepmother, Jeremy and Julie Parks, live near Wichita, Kan.

Like her mother, Khighla learned to ride early and was part of the Willard Young Riders. The group won awards at local parades.

“She lit up when she rode the horses,” said Debi Huntoon of Springfield who knew Khighla through the riding group.

Khighla went to the Willard public schools for much of her life. She loved to sing and dreamed of one day being on American Idol.

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“She was a really laid-back, relaxed, happy girl,” said one of her friends, Lacey Applegate, a sophomore at Willard High School.

But a Greene County sheriff’s report from Aug. 22 indicates Khighla was also grappling with her “mom’s missing from family’s life.” Her grandmother, Bonnie Adams, reported Khighla missing then, about a month before she disappeared for the last time.

Khighla had taken her beloved horse with her, but left the horse at a neighbor’s house, according to the sheriff’s report. The Adamses told an officer that Khighla had run away four times in the last week. Bonnie Adams told the officer that Khighla had been unmanageable and was constantly running away to meet a man named Travis who she thought might be in his 20s.

Bonnie Adams said she didn’t want to talk about the sheriff’s report.

“We had a beautiful, beautiful granddaughter, and she meant the world to us,” Bonnie Adams said. “I know the love we had for her. She was never running away from anything.”

Facebook friends

The profile picture on Anthony Balbirnie’s Facebook page is a mannequin with a swastika on its forehead. The word “evil” is above one blackened eyebrow. Balbirnie described himself on his Facebook page as “outgoing and energetic” and said he was interested in women. Many of his friends appear to be young, attractive women or girls. One of them is Khighla.

She is not the first young teen who would make Balbirnie the subject of police interest. In November 2006, Michael Cooksey was at a north side motel in Springfield to meet a woman. He was surprised when a young girl was also in the room. Then the man he would later learn was Balbirnie walked in.

“He came in there violent as hell,” Cooksey said. “Screaming and yelling. She kept saying she didn’t want to go with him.”

The girl, who was 16, left with Balbirnie. On the way out of the hotel room, she looked back at Cooksey and asked him for help. He called police. Authorities issued an Amber Alert. The alert was canceled once the girl was returned to her Springfield parents. No criminal charges were filed.

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Balbirnie does not have any significant criminal record of violence, but he has made threats, according to court records. His former landlord, Chris Gatley, got an order of protection against Balbirnie in Greene County in 2003.

Gatley wrote that Balbirnie carried weapons and said Balbirnie had threatened employees and tenants, according to court records. Gatley also wrote that he was afraid of Balbirnie because Balbirnie was violent and paranoid.

Balbirnie’s criminal history includes convictions for making and possessing meth. He was approved for a state drug treatment plan in 2010 as part of a Greene County sentence for drug offenses that shortened his 12-year prison sentence to 14 months. He was released in April 2011. Within months, he tested positive for meth, according to court records.

Balbirnie returned to prison after violating his probation in a Christian County drug case. He was released from prison on Aug. 17 and released from the Greene County Jail on Aug. 20 under a judge’s order.

Disappearance

Khighla’s relatives said they last saw her on Sept. 20 when she walked away. What happened next is unclear. Balbirnie’s sometime girlfriend told investigators, according to court records that are part of the felony charge, that she saw Khighla with Balbirnie on Sept. 21 at her home in Buffalo.

Authorities haven’t said how they believe Khighla died. Her body showed no obvious outward signs of trauma such as a bullet or knife wound. They are waiting on the results of toxicology and other tests to determine the cause.

Balbirnie’s girlfriend told investigators that she saw Balbirnie participate in “wrapping, binding and otherwise preparing” Khighla’s body at her home before putting it in the trunk of a gold Pontiac Grand Am. He said he planned to drive to Warsaw and then drove off.

Balbirnie has entered a plea of not guilty to the Benton County charge. One of the public defenders connected to his case declined to comment.

Investigators also questioned two other people they identified as persons of interest, Desiree Siddens, 24, and Larry Warner, 39. No charges have been filed against either. Warner is facing criminal charges in a 2011 case about a meth lab Springfield police in his apartment in the 1500 block of East Kearney Street. That case is pending.

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Warner currently lists a Bois D'Arc address in court records. Siddens has lived in the 1600 block of West Lombard Street in Springfield, according to court records.

People who lived in the Buffalo neighborhood said they didn’t notice anything unusual the night of Sept. 21 or on other nights.

“As far as noise or carrying on I haven’t heard anything,” said Frank Keith.

Khighla’s relatives initially thought she would soon return home, as she had before. But as the days went by, they grew more and more afraid. On Sept. 30, the tenth day after Khighla’s disappearance, boaters less than a mile from the bridge spotted something floating in the water. They called the state water patrol, and officers pulled a girl’s body from the lake.

Authorities suspected this was Khighla because of a birthmark on the girl’s forehead and a scar on her hand. The family provided a toothbrush so officials could confirm the identification with DNA analysis.

Khighla was buried Friday after a funeral where the mourners wept to the sounds of country music and remembered the eager girl they knew, the teen so full of life and dreams.

Lacey, Khighla’s high school friend, wrote on Khighla’s Facebook wall after her death. Lacey wrote that she didn’t understand why this had to happen but she knew Khighla was in a better place.

Lacey said Khighla was trusting of people even if she didn’t know them well.

“She was a very kind person, and she would think everybody was like that,” Lacey said.

Lacey and others who live near Khighla’s rural home are less trusting now.

“It is very scary and very reality-checking for me,” Lacey said. “I always thought it would be safe for me to go on a walk.”